One of New Zealand’s greatest fast bowlers, Trent Boult turns 30. The left-arm pacer has been instrumental to Black Caps’ rise in international cricket. At 30, he is already their third-highest wicket-taker in Test matches and together in the company of Tim Southee, have wreaked havoc in many opposition batting orders. As Boult celebrates his birthday, we take a look at some of his best individual bowling performances. Happy Birthday, Trent Boult! Pet Dog Louie Bolt, Cricketer Brother to Ladylove Gert, Here’s Everyone Close to New Zealand Pacer’s Heart.

Boult has already represented New Zealand in 61 Test matches and 89 ODIs accounting for more than 400 international wickets. He is only behind the great sir Richard Hadlee (431) and Daniel Vettori (361) in the list of most Test wickets by a New Zealander cricketer. Take a look at three of his best bowling performances in a Kiwi jersey.

6 wickets for 4 runs in 15 deliveries (New Zealand vs Sri Lanka, Christchurch, December 2018)

Boult was woefully out of form going into this fixture and had finished with figures of 2/145 in the previous Test, which ended in a draw. His wicket-taking abilities had dried up even as Southee blasted through the Sri Lankan top-order to leave them reeling at 88/4. But Boult suddenly found his rhythm and Sri Lanka had to pay the price.

Boult Achieves Fantastic Record

They were bowled out for 104 runs with Boult taking all of the last six Lankan wickets to fall. But it was the timing and space of the wickets that fell that spoke of the magnitude of the achievement Boult had scripted. His six wickets came in his final 15 deliveries of the innings in which Sri Lanka could only score four runs. As it turned out. The figures were Boult’s best-ever figures in a Test inning.

5/27 in 10 overs (New Zealand vs Australia, Auckland, February 28, 2015, World Cup)

The ball was swinging like a pendulum in Auckland and Trent Boult exploded taking 5 Australian wickets for just 27 runs in his 10 overs. In three of His five wickets, Boult had run through the gate of the opposing batsmen. The 30-year-olf then showed tremendous maturity to hold on with the bat and help Kane Williamson lead New Zealand to victory in a Group A game of 2015 Cricket World Cup. It was Boult’s best World Cup game ever and he returned with his best ODI figures.

6/33 in 10 Overs (New Zealand vs Australia, 3rd ODI, Hamilton, February 5, 2017)

Another New Zealand-Australia match and another Trent Boult classic. He picked up six wickets for just 33 runs, with the last three coming in space of eight runs. It still wasn’t his best ODI figures but Boult once again why he is so revered as one of the best fast bowlers of this generation. New Zealand won the game and Boult was declared the Man of the Match for his incredible showing.

His best ODI figures came later that year against the West Indies when he took seven wickets for just 34 runs. The first four wickets, as well as the last three, were his as New Zealand emerged victorious by a big margin. The game was at Christchurch, one of Boult’s favourite hunting grounds. He also has an ODI World Cup hat-trick to his name and it came against Australia in the 2019 World Cup league phase.

Boult was instrumental in leading New Zealand to two consecutive World Cup finals (2015 & 2019) but times the Black Caps suffered heart-breaking defeats to remain the runner-ups. They lost to Australia in 2015 before going do eventual champions England in the final owing to more boundary counts. After the final had ended in a tie.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 22, 2019 10:24 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).